Silo.



CLEMENT L. FLYNNjOF BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR T0 WELLES THOMPSON COMPANY, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF MINNESOTA.

SILO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 22, 1918.

T 0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLEMENT L. FLYNN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Eellingham, in the county of l/ilhatcom and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Silos, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to silos or tanks for the storage of stock feed. The object of my improvements is to afford a more rigid and inexpensive structure of this character which may be erected without the employment of skilled labor, and in which ensilage may be kept in good condition for a long time.

The invention consists in the novel construction, adaptation and combination of devices, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a silo embodying the present invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail horizontal sectional view of the silo wall. Fig. 11 is a horizontal section through @-4 of Fig. 2, showing a door and the jambs therefor and indicating by broken lines the manner of introducing or removing the same from the door-opening.

The wall of the silo is composed of a plurality of posts 10 which are spaced to conform to the lengths of horizontal panel boards 11 and furnish the requisite dooropenings, such as 12. Said posts are provided in proximity of their inner faces 13 at opposite sides with grooves 1e to receive the correspondingly shaped extremities of the panel-boards.

By the provision of such lioints between the posts and the panel-boards, the latter may be disposed in vrious angular relations, as indicated by full and broken lines (A) in Fig. 3, according to the diameter of the silo. 1n proximity to their outer faces said posts are preferably provided with rabbets 15 to receive the ends of horizontally disposed cover-boards 16. Said coverboards are nailed or otherwise secured to the posts and provide, with the panelboards, air spaces or chambers between the posts.

The posts are connected in pairs by coupling rods 17 which extend through said spaces and holes provided in the posts. Said arcuate shaped rods are screw-threaded for engaging nuts 18 and 19 at opposite sides of a post for securing the latter in adjusted positions.

The rods 17, moreover, are arranged in groups about the entire wall and serve with the posts as-the frame thereof. Such wallframe is supported upon a foundation or base 20 of concrete, or other suitable material, and to which the frame is connected by anchor devices. Said anchor-devices (see Figs. 1 and 2) each consist of an eye-bolt 21 having its lower portion embedded in the base Q0 and, to prevent its being withdrawn therefrom, is desi 'ably formed with a rectangular bend 211. Connected with the eye of said bolt is a link 22 having at its upper end an eye toaccon'imodate a coupling rod 17 and is held in juxtaposition with a post by a nut 18. To regulate the height of the link with respect to a coupling rod, pockets such as indicated by broken lines B, Fig. 2, may advantageously be provided in the base 2O to receive an eye-bolt and, after setting up the frame, the pockets are successively filled with cement or concrete to unite the eye-bolts with the base.

By means of the links 22, the various posts may be moved to an extent toward or away from the center of the silo by manipulating the nuts 1S and 19 as may be required to compensate for the swelling or shrinkage of the panel-boards, etc., to maintain the wall in an air-tight condition.

Above and below the referred to dooropenings, the headers or sills may be afforded by boards 111 similar to the aforedescribed panel-boards except that instead of being' made convex and concave at their meeting edges. in this instance they are beveled, as at 24, to allow the doors to be introduced into their openings from the inside of the silo and furnish seats for the door edges.

A door is comprised of two sections C and D each formed of a plurality of horizontally arranged boards 25 (Fig. 2) which are matched at their upper and lower edges and are connected by vertically arranged cleat elements 26 fastened to the outer faces of the boards 25.

The outer ends 251 of the door sections are made convex to fit the grooves 111 of the posts at each side of a door-opening and the joint between the door sections is obtained by employing convex and concave meeting ends 27 and 28, respectively, of sections D and C for articulating the latter endwise.

Pairs of hinge members 29, rigidly secured to said door sections neai' the upper and lower' ends of the same, are provided with elongated slots 30 (Fig. 4) for pivotally and slidably connecting themv to the respective hinge pins 31. The hinge slots 30 are arranged to have the pins encounter the ends 301 of the slots when the door sections occupy the full-line positions in the view and prevent the door being collapsed outwardly through any pressure which may be applied against the same.

The pins 31 of the hinges of a door are formed integral with and constitute the terminals of a bail. whose intermediate portion 32 is oiiset or stands out from the door to be engaged `by the arm of a lever' fulcrumed against a post, as indicated by broken lines 33 in F ig. 4, being` used to pry a door into the opening therefor in the silo.

Ordinarily, however, a door may be extended for engagement by an outward pull by the operator upon the bail. To remove a door it is pushed inwardly by pressure exerted at or near the joint between the sections thereof, whereupon the door collapses as indicated by broken lines (Fig. 4) and the outside edges 251 are withdrawn from the grooves in the posts or jambs.

` The aforesaid door comprised of toggle-` lke elements will obviously serve to wedge itself in a door-opening and be held therein without the oilices of any supplementary locking devices.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for The bail, which constitutesl a part of the door-hinges, serves as a handle whereby the door is conveniently heldl when introducing or removing it, as well as -for applying force.

at the knuckle when locking'` the door. y Having described my' iinveiition, what claim, is-

l. rlhe combination with a foundation for a silo, or the like structure, of circumferentially spaced upright posts resting loosely and shiftable on said foundation radially thereof, panels iitting the spaces betweeny said posts and resting loosely over said foundation, and post anchoring devices posi.-

tively anchoring said post to said foundation, against vertical movements but withl freedom for radial movements.

The combination with a foundation for a silo, or like structure, of upright circumferentially spaced posts shiftable at their `)osts and holdin the said Ost ositiv'elv anchored to said foundation against vertical movements but free for radial movement.

lSigned at Bellingham, lVash., this 24th day of April, 1914i.

s CLEMENT L. FLYNN.

Witnesses:

M. J. MGGARRY, JOHN MGMAHEN.

Washington, D, C," 

